Magic the Gathering Decklist: WUBRG Epic Upkeeps

The Deck Building Muse

I really enjoy building decks to play in my casual group. My inspiration often comes from a particular card that makes me think – “Wouldn’t this be great if…” One card that has always been a bit of a lure to me is Paradox Haze. Since I first stumbled upon it at a Time Spiral pre-release I wanted to work out a way to make the most of it.

Recently, I sat down and put an upkeep-abuse deck together. One thing I wanted to do was use the few Epic spells that I own from Kamigawa days. If I can’t cast spells but I get a freebie each upkeep then I might as well have lots of upkeeps, eh?

How it works should be obvious. Play as many things as possible as they all interact with Paradox Haze and get down a few of the Paradox Hazes. This should soon escalate up and get a little bonkers and then win.

In reality, the deck does rather rely on staying alive long enough to get enough Hazes out to lock down the game and prevent opponents from doing anything. Gaining control of the board is a must. In my group a lot of creatures get played so Raka Sanctuary coupled with a Haze will do 2x 1 point of damage each turn (the Haze is blue so enables the Sanctuary). Get down a Honden of Cleansing Fire next (which further enables the Sanctuary) and each upkeep results in 2x 3 points of damage to creatures plus the Epic Upkeeps player gaining 4 life.

Oh yes, Hondens! This is another throwback to Kamigawa days. These all increase with the presence of more of them on the player’s battlefield. To continue with the above example, if the player played a Honden of Life’s Web they would now be doing 2x 3 points of damage to creatures, gaining 8 life and putting out four 1/1 colourless Spirit creatures.

The trick is to get cards played in a way that makes sense. Don’t play Braids, Conjurer Adept or Gate to the Aether until you’ve is at least one Haze down, otherwise other players will get as much advantage from the card as you. We want to get more from the cards than the opponents!

When it does get a chance to properly go off the results can be pretty amazing! Turns where there are 16 then 32 Mirror-Sigil Sergeants entering the battlefield normally cause opponents to scoop their cards! I do really enjoy playing this deck – it can be a lot of fun and can often do a lot of different things.